Help Us "Ask Judy" (Blume)

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I was thrilled when the lovely folks working on spreading the word about Judy Blume and her son Lawrence Blume's upcoming film Tiger Eyes approached me about interviewing Judy on Clear Eyes, Full Shelves. 

Y'all know how eagerly I've anticipated this movie, since it's adapted from my favorite book as a teen. (I wrote about it earlier this year.) In addition to my coming up with the questions for Judy (I have a couple in mind), I thought it would be fun to throw it to you guys for suggestions about what to ask, particularly about the Tiger Eyes film adaptation.

Here's the film trailer, for a bit of inspiration.

To thank you for your fabulous questions, I'll draw one random commenter who suggests a question on this post who will win a copy of the movie tie-in edition of the novel Tiger Eyes. If you live in a country The Book Depository ships to, you'll eligible to win. 

(Standard disclaimer: this giveaway is sponsored and paid for by Clear Eyes, Full Shelves, and has no affiliation with anyone else.) 

Tell us what you'd ask Judy Blume in the comments by midnight Pacific time, Sunday, May 26.

Preorder Tiger Eyes on iTunes
Tiger Eyes Theater Listings
Buy the Book on Amazon 
Read the EW Feature on Tiger Eyes

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Review: Levitating Las Vegas by Jennifer Echols

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Review: Levitating Las Vegas by Jennifer Echols

Generally, I really enjoy it when authors take their writing in new directions. Maybe a contemporary/realistic author tries science fiction, or a speculative author attempts a mystery. So, when Jennifer Echols--who's a favorite author of mine--announced that she'd written a paranormal "new adult" novel, my interest was piqued.

Unfortunately, while Levitating Las Vegas had an interesting concept, the filmsy world-building, characterization and plot largely failed to to deliver.  

Holly Starr is a Las Vegas showgirl and recent college grad who has taken medication for years to prevent hallucinations that started as a teen, hallucinations that she could levitate. She's tired of spending her nights assisting in her father's magic show and hopes to forge her own path in Las Vegas. Her former classmate, Elijah also experienced hallucinations as a teen that he's been medicated for ever since. In his case, he believed he could read minds.

Both of their hallucinations threaten to return when the supply of their medication suddenly disappears, and they start to wonder if maybe they're not so crazy after all?

““Why the hell not?” Holly yelled back. “It doesn’t sound so bad when I think about all the shit you and my parents have put me through. Just for starters, all the edamame, Kaylee. My mom brainwashed me into purchasing and steaming my very own edamame even now that I’m out from under her roof, just to keep my weight down. Do you know how many cookies I’ve missed out on in the last seven years, all in the name of pleasing my parents despite my fake debilitating mental illness? God!” ”

Thus ensues a mayhem-filled story that includes everything from a kidnapping (Elijah kidnaps Holly) to a show-stopper of a magic trick involving nudity and the Hoover Dam.

With this wild premise, Levitating Las Vegas could have been a fun read, and I did have moments when I really enjoyed it (such as Holly, who'd never driven a car, "driving" it down the Strip in her own unique fashion) and am a sucker for caper-style plots, as a big fan of urban fantasy, I expected more in terms of logical construction of the world and magic.

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List-O-Rama: Thinking About Summer Reading

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List-O-Rama: Thinking About Summer Reading

Summer reading tends to be feast or famine for me.

My work schedule gets a bit weird, so I alternate between no free time and loads of it. As a result, I tend to be a bit more random with my reading choices (which is saying something, since I specialize in random and don't keep a reading "schedule" like many folks do) and binge on series or authors and try a lot of stuff out that piqued my interest that I previously passed up due to business, etcetera.

Here are a few (actually, a whole lot) of books I'm thinking about tackling this summer.

Darkest London Series by Kristen Callihan

I picked up the third book in Kristen Calligan's Darkest London Series at ALA earlier this year, not realizing that it was part of an ongoing series (I started reading Winterblaze and was promptly confused). I find myself more and more intrigued by historical fantasy (is that what the sub-genre is called?) and this one while having pretty trashy covers, comes highly recommended by several folks whose taste I trust.

Amazon | Goodreads

The Paranormal YA Series Enders

I have a weird habit with series endings: I kind of hate them. There's so much pressure for series to end "right" and in the case of paranormal YA, since there's not a lot that I love, love, love, with Jeri Smith-Ready's Shade trilogy, Rachel Vincent's lengthy Soul Screamersseries and Kim Derting's Body Finder quartet, it's not just series ending stress I'm facing--I'm also looking at not having a lot left in the genre that intrigues me.

Shade Series on Amazon | Goodreads
Soul Screamers on Amazon | Goodreads
The Body Finder on Amazon | Goodreads

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